Vocabulary learning in a real-world digital environment

This chapter reports on how learning of vocabulary items was assessed in the English and Italian digital kitchens, the methods being different but complementary. In England a quantitative approach was adopted, involving pre-test, post-test and delayed post-test of a set of 16 vocabulary items (utensils and ingredients) learnt by individuals. The Italian team followed a broadly similar research design, with two main differences: there was no delayed post-test, and the vocabulary items presented in the pre- and post-test were different, to control for possible test-retest effects. The results of both studies showed gains resulting from the learning sessions in the European Digital Kitchen (EDK), which reached statistical significance in the English data. The combination of the two studies provides a rich and detailed perspective on one single aspect of the overall learning experience in the EDK, namely vocabulary learning.